joecarve

Interesting frame of reference. Let's say you're holding a ball, standing in an elevator. The elevator is travelling downward and you throw the ball up in the air. You see the ball rising, but what direction is it really moving?

For starters, check out TahoeCarvers ...a forum there as well. Plenty of us riding at north and south shore every weekend. One day with a few of us and you'll get a ton of yapping about gear... :D joe...

Is Wal-Mart Good for America? joe... PS. Code pays for gear.

very nice site for digital still camera comparisons: dpreview.com joe...

Yes, but whose fingers are the most accurate? :D Get a thin, plastic metric ruler, place it flat on the floor. Stand on it, with the very back edge of your heel lined up at the 0 mark. The measurement to your longest toe is your Mondo boot size. Also, I believe a fewer number of cuffs are fitted to a larger number of lower shells...the size of the lower shell is the important one (corresponding to "boot size"). joe...

I took this over your left shoulder before nabbing the keys to your Element...

Q4U in Frisco...that's some good BBQ... joe...

How to spot your kind in traffic:

baseball, right? :D

Same here - 3 seasons on that combo. joe...

Softboots for two seasons, then hardboots at low angles for five seasons (simply because softboots sucked), then got a clue (and a lesson) on carving. Starting my fifth season... joe...

Nothing says "I love you" like diamonds ... :D

from this day on my lovely dear i prove my love with outdoor gear those raichle boots and bomber plates you wear for our alpine dates a CF rig with x-ply sail i'll gladly buy for stronger gale all to lead a vig'rous life come play with me and be my wife

So I used to think those "skateboarding is not a crime" bumper stickers were metaphorical...as in, "don't hate me because I'm on a skateboard" sort of thing. Then I was halted one day by a mounted cop who informed me the roughly 50-block area encompassing both my office building and every reachable food establishment downtown is a no-skateboading zone. Beware the burrito-fed coder and his slalom-wheeled longboard...truly a menace to civilized society.

Same deck, 28 Mondo Raichles, 58/53. I actually ride it with a little bit of underhang (55/50 is spot-on for me) simply because I like facing more forward. But I don't like putting sky under my board like Nate does... :D joe...

Don't stop heeling and toeing...or rather, "toes down" on toeside, "toes up" (lift them up) on heelside. I'll catch myself not doing this, even at 63/60, and realize how much of a difference it makes. Thomas - I'll chime in here on the boots as well...good fitting boots are a must. There are plenty of used boards and bindings out there. Make the boots your first priority. Oh, and welcome - you're gonna love digging arcs around your friends and turning heads on the lift. :D joe...

Really. Let's say there's a .75-sec spread between start and stop click reaction time...175mph.

Me too...ordered mine 2 weeks ago. Man, I hate waitin' on toys. :D

A friend of mine mailed the following image to me - don't know the source, but I want some of these balloons:

Looks like you're leading your turns with your shoulders (and looking ahead of the turn), which is great! Work on bending your knees more, as well as unweighting on the transitions. See the crossover-crossunder article (same thing on asphalt). Cross-over is what you want to work on first; I actually taught myself cross-under turns on a skateboard. Also work on riding with your back foot rotated more forward, closer to the angle of your front foot (you'll end up adjusting your snowboard binding angles to match). You might want to poke around NCDSA as well - plenty of useful stuff there for just general skating technique. You just have to wade through the forums a bit. BTW, footbraking is a handy skill - doesn't apply to snow, but adds safety on aphalt...search on ncdsa for info on it. You'll be amazed how much better your snowboarding will be at the beginning of this season compared to the end of last after skating over the summer. joe...

Yeah, you definitely don't want to mess up your...shifter. The top tube on my bike eventually separated at the head tube from slamming down after popping too many wheelies. Sure, I noticed it cracking, but y'know, it wasn't all the way through, yet. Then I clipped that tree on a trail in a turn, so that the head tube angled back and the forks would only rotate so far. It would only ride in a left-hand circle after that...

Bob - buy a longboard skateboard. Seriously..helps ease the pain. I just spent an hour late today with the 'pod in my ears and the FibreFlex Pintail 38 with Avalons under my feet. Sooooo good. If that Madd was staring at you from across the room right now, it would be the longest 3 months of your life 'til December... joe...

Oh man, banana seat bike - mine was yellow with a black seat and a yellow "racing" stripe. Got it for my 7th birthday...my mom ran up and down the gravel driveway next to me that day until I could balance... Anyone have the model with the top-tube-mounted 3-speed shifter? :D joe...

Jack's next post will be his 700th...substance abuse comes in so many forums...er, forms... :D :D

Sure - unless there's decent wind on the bay, of course... :D It'll start dying off around the time I get the deck...few weeks. I'll send ya mail...